Sea foam contains hemoglycin from cosmic dust†

Abstract

In-falling cosmic dust has left evidence of meteoritic polymer amide in stromatolites, both fossil and modern. In search of evidence for continued present day in-fall, sea foam was collected from two beaches in Rhode Island and subjected to Folch extraction to concentrate amphiphilic components in a chloroform water–methanol interphase layer. Hemoglycin polymer amide molecules previously characterized by MALDI mass spectrometry in meteorites and stromatolites were identified in sea foam either directly, or via their fragmentation patterns. Residual isotope enrichment pointed to an extra-terrestrial origin. The unique resiliency of sea foam may be due to the formation of extended hemoglycin lattices that stabilize its closed-cell structure and its lightness can potentially be explained by photolytic hydrogen production.